


Loose lips (sail ships)

by BrilliantlyHorrid



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Daisy is a perfect cinnamon roll, F/M, Love Declarations, Same trope different circumstances, coulson gets loopy, take 2, under the influence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 07:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9537647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/pseuds/BrilliantlyHorrid
Summary: “Daisy."“Hey,” she answered, reaching over and patting his hand. “Didn’t I tell you? You’re not allowed to get hurt.” Coulson just gave her a goofy smile in return. “You’re feeling pretty good now, aren’t you?”“Daisy,” he just repeated, grabbing at her hand pretty clumsily.“I think he’s happy to see you,” Yo Yo said, looking amused.Coulson’s head lolled to the side to look at her, as if just noticing her and Mack’s presence. “Yeah,” he agreed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Coulson gets high and confesses his love take 2

“We need to get out of here,” Daisy groaned, heaving Coulson up until he was leaning on her heavily. His leg was probably broken ( _again_ ,) judging from the way the usually-impassive Coulson was not hiding the fact that he was in _a lot_ of pain.

Mack caught up to them and very generously sped up the process once they reached the ramp of the quinjet, basically taking all of Coulson’s weight from Daisy’s shoulder.

“What happened?” Mace asked, coming out of the jet looking worried. Daisy waved him away.

“Back inside! We need to go.”

Mace nodded, and once Yo Yo had made inside after them, he hit the pad to close the ramp.

“Gun,” Coulson said, and everyone froze, looking for the assailant. He winced. “No! No, gun, my gun,” he corrected, holding his thigh. “I think I left it, we need--”

“Shush,” Yo Yo said, looking out the already-closing ramp. With her telltale _whoosh_ it was like she barely left, dropping the weapon into Daisy’s hand as the jet prepared for takeoff.

“Thanks,” Daisy said, putting the gun aside and stripping off her gauntlets as the others took Coulson from her. “Let’s go!”

The pilots took off, after what felt to Daisy like either ten years or ten seconds.

“Keep that elevated,” Mack said as he and Mace arranged Coulson to sit sideways in one of the jump seats.

“What can I do?” Daisy asked, looking Phil over. He looked bad.

“Here.” Mack pushed gently on Daisy’s shoulder until she sat in the seat next to Phil’s, carefully placing his injured leg in her lap. “Keep that still, I’ll be right back.”

“Yes sir,” Daisy said, trying to inject a little humor to keep herself from getting overwhelmed. She _really_ didn’t like seeing Coulson in pain. Daisy knew it was to help him, to stop his leg from getting jostled during the flight, but having his thigh in her lap, warm and solid (if injured) was kind of grounding. _Everything is going to be okay._

Looking over at Coulson’s face, she saw that he was not only pale, but covered in a thin sheen of sweat. He was looking at her oddly, like he was waiting for something, like he needed something from her.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she said, repeating the sentiment out loud in the hopes that’s what he was looking for. Miraculously, it looked like she was right. He was still hurting, but his face seemed to relax a bit.

“Here,” Mack said as he reached them, kneeling next to Coulson’s uninjured leg. “Simmons told me this should help, it’ll dull the pain. Hopefully quickly.” He uncapped what looked like an epi-pen, raising his eyebrows at Coulson as if making sure he has his permission. “She said it might make you feel a little woozy.”

“Don’t care,” Coulson ground out, wincing. “Do it. Please.”

Mack nodded, pressing the pen against his leg and pushing the plunger.

“I thought you said it was quick,” Coulson said, his voice getting agitated. “When is it supposed to--oh, that was fast.” He slumped back, all his tensed muscles immediately relaxing. Daisy watched as his eyes drooped closed and his breathing slowed back to a normal pace.

“Coulson?” She asked cautiously, making sure the injection wasn’t just killing him. Sure enough, the agent’s eyes opened, and everyone seemed to let out a little sigh of relief. Mack ran a hand over his face before standing and slumping into a seat across from them. Yo Yo followed suit, but not before giving Daisy a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Remind me to see Simmons next time I have a hangover,” Daisy joked. Mace smiled, but still seemed a little gray. It was no picnic for her either, but it was remarkable how little stomach he had for what they _actually_ did here.

“Daisy,” Coulson called, and she turned to face him, smiling.

“Hey,” she answered, reaching over and patting his hand. “Didn’t I tell you? You’re not allowed to get hurt.” Coulson just gave her a goofy smile in return. Daisy raised an eyebrow. “You’re feeling pretty good now, aren’t you?”

“Daisy,” he just repeated, grabbing at her hand pretty clumsily.

“I think he’s happy to see you,” Yo Yo said, looking amused.

Coulson’s head lolled to the side to look at her, as if just noticing her and Mack’s presence. “Yeah,” he agreed.

The guy looked blissed _out,_ Daisy was starting to wonder what exactly Simmons told them to inject him with. Of course, it was better than him being in excruciating pain.

“You gave us a scare there, Phil,” Mace said, finally starting to regain his human complexion again.

Coulson’s brow furrowed as he stared at the other man. Then he looked back at Daisy and the smile was back. “Hi,” he said. Daisy smiled back, kind of awkwardly, before looking over to Mack.

“How much longer until we land?”

“I _missed_ you.”

Daisy and Mack stared at each other for just a moment longer before they both looked over at Coulson, who was still looking at Daisy. She met Mack’s eyes again before turning to face Coulson.

“Well, I’m here,” she said, trying to sound reassuring.

Daisy wasn’t sure where this was coming from. Was he talking about when she left? She’d been back for a while now. These days they worked together on field missions more often than not.

“Yeah, you are,” he agreed, closing his eyes again. Daisy let out a little breath of relief, avoiding the eyes of the other three occupants. If he just slept for the rest of the flight--

“You’re so beautiful,” Coulson sighed, and Daisy was surprised to see that his eyes were once again open and staring at her.

“Um, what?”

“He said you’re beautiful,” Elena said, and Daisy shot her a look. Elena looked innocent. “What? Smart man.”

“ _You’re_ smart,” Phil said, looking at Daisy like she was the only other person in the world. “And beautiful. And kind, and _so--_ ”

“Okay charm school,” Daisy interrupted, pulling her hand away. Coulson was going to be _so embarrassed_ about this later, she felt bad for even witnessing it. (Even if part of her _really_ wanted to know what else he was about to say.) “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?”

“Actually, he shouldn’t sleep,” Mack said, staring at his phone. He held the phone up, shrugging. “Simmons says while he’s on that stuff we need to keep him awake.”

“Guys-- um, guys,” Mace said, trying to get their attention. “He’s--” He pointed at the very much asleep-looking Coulson.

“Crap, Coulson. _Coulson._ ” Daisy reached over and pinched his upper arm. “Wake up.”

Coulson made a weirdly cute frowny face before opening his eyes. “Daisy told me to sleep.”

“Yeah, well Daisy is telling you to stay awake now,” Daisy said with wide eyes. _Great, I could have killed him_. “Can you do that for me?”

Coulson’s face lost some of that sleepy, dreamy quality as he looked at her with a sudden (but still slightly cloudy) intensity. “I’d do anything for you.”

Daisy wasn’t sure which was worse: Yo Yo’s amused ‘hmm’ noise, Mack’s silence or Mace’s _‘sheesh_.’ Maybe all three were bad.

“Phil, I don’t think you should be talking like that,” the pseudo SHIELD director said in that official voice of his. “Let’s change the subject. What else do you like, cars? How about we talk about cars.”

“Lola’s a car,” Coulson said, eyes still on Daisy. “She’s the most beautiful car in the world.”

“Riiiight,” Yo Yo drawled. “The sexy corvette?” She asked Mack, who seemed to be motioning for her not to get involved. “No toque?”

“ _Really_ sexy,” Phil answered, “don’t touch.”

Daisy could feel a blush start to creep up from the neck of her suit. Did it get warm in there? She thought maybe it did.

“Except for you,” Yo Yo said, the smirk on her face showing that maybe she had caught on.

“I’m beginning to think cars weren’t the best topic,” Mace said, and Daisy shook her head.

_Not even a little bit._

What was _with_ Coulson, anyway? Why was he acting like he was obsessed with her or something? Was it their proximity? Was it just because they were close in general? It wasn’t creepy or weird--well, maybe weird because he normally wouldn’t act like that-- but Daisy was...perplexed. And she felt a little bad thinking this, but she was beginning to feel like if everyone else wasn’t around, she might not mind him saying these kind of things to her.

It would be even better if he wasn’t high as a kite. _That_ was an interesting realization, but not really unusual considering the way things had been since she’d gotten back. And while she was gone. And, she began to notice in retrospect, since they’d met.

Daisy was beginning to suspect that if it was her getting the happy cocktail injected into her leg, she might be spouting some similar sentiments about him.

Trying to think of what she might say, with _no inhibitions_ , Daisy was really grateful their situations weren’t reversed.

“Daisy, I need to tell you something,” Coulson began, snapping her out of her thoughts. “I--” Quickly she reached up and covered his mouth before any other words could come out.

“Can you guys give us a minute?” Daisy asked, not looking at anyone. “Please?” There wasn’t really anywhere for them to go, but they were far enough toward the back that maybe if they went over by the cockpit whatever thing Coulson was about to say would be drowned out. Slowly the three shuffled away, giving them at least an attempt at privacy.

“Coulson,” Daisy said calmly, making sure she and her doped up former boss and probably best friend and love of her life were making full eye contact. “I just want you to know that, no matter what you say now, I’m not going to hold it against you, okay? If you never want to talk about it again once you’re back to your senses, that’s totally fine. I won’t mention it again. But you know, if you want to talk about it, like, well, we probably should, then we will, okay? Did you get all of that?”

Coulson nodded, and she took her hand off of his mouth. He sat up a little bit, and Daisy braced herself.

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Oh god dammit,” Daisy let out, before starting to laugh. She thought, what, he was going to make some big confession? She had been psyching herself up for nothing, the man just needed to go to the bathroom. _I’m never going to live this down._

“Everything okay over here?” Mack asked, and Daisy realized she was still laughing and that was probably a little alarming for everyone else.

“Yeah,” she said, wiping a tear away from her eye. “Yeah, are we arriving soon? Agent Coulson needs to use the facilities.” Mack looked over at Coulson, who just smiled at him beatifically.

“Should be touching down in a couple minutes,” Mack said. He looked at Daisy questioningly, as if maybe _he_ had been expecting something else too. Daisy smiled and shrugged.

“Just a couple minutes,” she told Coulson, who was reaching up to touch Mack’s arm.

“You’re such a good friend, Mack,” Phil said earnestly, tugging at the other man’s sleeve. “ _Such_ a good friend, and partner.”

Unsure of how to deal with that, Mack looked to Daisy. She shrugged again, seeing how this could be amusing when it was happening to someone else.

“Ele--Elena is a very lucky woman.”

Mack’s eyebrows shot up, but he simply patted Phil’s hand and nodded. “Yeah, yeah thanks Coulson.” If Daisy wasn’t mistaken, he was blushing.

“Awww,” she said, “you guys are cute.”

Mack’s retort was lost under the sound of the jet landing in the hangar. “Oh good,” Daisy said, “my thighs are asleep.” The ramp lowered and the medical team were the first to board. Sitting still as they carefully took Phil out of the jump seat, Daisy watched him get loaded onto a stretcher, a brace fastened around his leg. “We’re going to get that taken care of, okay AC?” Everyone deplaned, following the medical team as they wheeled Coulson to the lab, Daisy walking alongside him as Simmons started to give instructions. “Hey, so I’m going to let them fix you up, okay? We’ll all check in on you soon.”

“Okay,” Coulson said cheerfully. “I love you.”

Daisy stopped in her tracks, watching as the doors to the lab swung shut behind him. Next to her, Elena paused.

“That must have been some good stuff,” she said. “Let’s go get a beer. You need a beer.”

“I need a beer,” Daisy agreed, letting the other woman lead the way.

* * *

“I suppose I should give this back,” Jeffrey said, handing Coulson the familiar black cane.

“Thanks,” Coulson said flatly. He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with it again, but this break was much less severe than his last one (for one thing, all the bones stayed in his body this time,) so he wouldn’t be out of commission as long. Oddly enough (was it odd?) Mace was the first visitor he’d received since waking up.

“Is everyone okay?” Coulson asked, a little worried as to why the ‘director’ was the only one to come by. Mace seemed confused by the question, which was probably a good thing.

“Sure, everyone’s fine. I think Agents Johnson and Rodriguez are tying one on, but everyone needs a break once in awhile, right?”

So Daisy and Yo Yo were on base.

_Huh._

It wasn’t that he was hurt or offended. Maybe the trip back was a hassle and they needed to wind down, figured they’d give him some time to rest. Speaking of which--

“So you guys got back okay, that’s good to hear. Was I out the whole time?”

Mace stared at him, then looked at the door.

“What happened on the trip back, Jeffrey?”

The discomfort and guilt on his face spoke volumes, and somehow started to look familiar. Phil felt his ears warm up, and the world around him went a little squiggly.

“You mean you don’t remember?”

 _Oh no_.

He did.

* * *

“He knows,” Mace said, walking through the doorway. At the table, Daisy, Mack and Elena put their cards down. “He knows.”

“Another beer?” Mack asked, not waiting for the answer before going to the fridge and grabbing four.

“I’m fine,” Mace said, holding up a hand. Mack looked at him strangely, placing two in front of Daisy.

Who was totally not panicking.

“What does he know? What did he say?”

She felt terrible not going to see him the second Simmons said it was allowed, but she had no idea what he knew, or if he was going to be embarrassed. Then one beer turned into three, now approaching five, so she was in no condition to stop by.

_Or you could, and make it even._

“It’s not so much what he said, as much as how he said it.” Mace said, looking shifty.

“How did he say it?” Yo Yo asked, barely able to not roll her eyes. She didn’t like Mace’s way of talking things out, it took far too long to get to the point.

“Well, I asked him if he remembered, then he sort of turned white and then he told me to leave.”

“Oh good, so we learned nothing,” Elena said, tipping her beer to him before taking a hearty swig.

“Easiest thing to do is ask him,” Mack said, picking up his cards.

As usual, he was probably right. She could let it stew, not say anything.

Actually, maybe Mack wasn’t right. Maybe Coulson would prefer to not talk about it again, let everyone forget the fact that he told her she was beautiful and he would do anything for her. Oh, and that he loved her.

_That could mean anything._

“Maybe I should talk to him.”

“Good,” Mack said. “But not now, we’re not done with this yet.” He looked at Elena, who stared back. “She’s going to handle it. Come on, this is a high stakes game we have going on.” he argued, and she rolled her eyes.

“Do you have any sevens?”

“Go fish.”

“I’m going to talk to him.” Daisy said, standing up and pushing away the stool.

“Oh come on,” Mack muttered, before waving Mace over. “You finish her hand.”

“Wait, Daisy,” Elena said, then whooshed back in front of her. She wobbled a bit on her feet at the return, about as many beers in as Daisy was. “Here.” She handed her a little pack of breath mints.

Daisy frowned, then smelled herself. “Oh god, I smell like a brewery. Okay, new plan. Shower, then I talk to him.”

“Talk to who?”

Everyone jumped slightly, looking to the door where Simmons and May stared at them curiously.

Daisy cleared her throat, trying to seem sober and not at all freaking out about Coulson maybe being in love with her or saying it and not meaning it and never wanting to see her again.

 _That wouldn’t happen_. But still, it was nerve wracking. She wouldn’t know anything until they talked, so she just needed to do it.

“Coulson,” she told them. “I wanted to check on Coulson.”

Simmons tilted her head sympathetically. “I’m sorry Daisy, he _just_ went to sleep.”

“Cool,” Daisy said, deflating a bit. “Cool. No problem.”

So she’d wait. Sober up, calm down, and wait until the next whole day to get some answers.

 _Cool_.  

* * *

She did not get answers the next day. Or the next one, or even the next one, because some Watchdogs decided to be even bigger pains in her neck than usual and she was up to her ears dealing with murderous xenophobes.

“Wanna grab some leftovers from the kitchen?” She asked May as they exited the hangar. May just gave her a tired look (or was it annoyed? Could be both, neither of them had been getting much sleep the past couple days,) and waved before walking to her own bunk.

“Next time,” Daisy said to her back, then headed to the kitchen on her own. She was going to reheat whatever she could find, then take up residence on the common room couch until forced to leave.

Phase one of the plan went off without a hitch; the team had ordered Indian food the night before, and someone had thoughtfully set something aside for her, with her name on it. The handwriting was Mack’s, although she was 99% sure someone else added the smiley face.

Maybe she was just overtired, but Daisy felt like she could cry at the gesture. Setting the microwave for a couple minutes, she decided to see what was on TV. Phase two: pick something fun that she could enjoy but also fall asleep to. But phase two was where her plan went a bit off the rails.

“Oh, hey,” she said as she realized someone else was already lying on the couch.

“Hi,” Coulson said, trying to sit up hurriedly and dropping the book that had been on his chest on the floor. “Shoot.”

“I’ll get it,” Daisy said, picking up the book and handing it to him. He scooted back until he was sitting up, legs stretched across the couch under a blanket. “Were you sleeping here?” _Because that was kind of my plan,_ she absolutely did not say for a multitude of reasons.

“Thanks,” Coulson said, dog-earing one of the pages and setting it aside. He looked up at her, with that patented thoughtful Phil Coulson Face. “We should talk.”

Just as Daisy opened her mouth to answer, the microwave beeped shrilly. She paused for a moment, then pointed toward the kitchen. “I don’t want to downplay the importance of this conversation, but--”

“Go,” Coulson said, a warm almost-smile on his face. Daisy swallowed, suddenly nervous, before going to grab her food.

“If I wasn’t starving--” she called from the kitchen, looking for a fork.

“I know.”

He just _got_ her.

She’d had a lot of time to herself the past couple days, a lot of time on a plane, a lot of time doing tai chi where she was definitely not clearing her mind.

Long story short, she was pretty sure she was in love with Coulson. And maybe had been for a while.

Which was why it would extra suck if the outcome of this conversation was ‘let’s pretend that never happened.’

Sitting on the corner of the coffee table, Daisy dug into her food, looking at Coulson expectantly. She’d been able to change out of her suit on the plane, fully committed to a relaxing night on the couch once she got home. But this was fine too.

Coulson looked at her with her least favorite Phil Coulson Face. The ‘I have some bad news’ face. Daisy just ate another bite of her dinner, crossing one leg over the other like her heart wasn’t kind of breaking.

“Daisy, I need to apologize,” he began, but Daisy waved it away.

“No you don’t,” she said, and Phil opened his mouth to object. “You _don’t._ You were basically out of your mind on whatever Simmons put in that syringe.” He nodded, still looking perturbed. “Coulson, honestly,” Daisy shrugged, looking at her food. “We can, you know, just forget about it.” She tried to smile at him, friendly, but it felt strained.

She really didn’t want to forget about it.

“I can understand why you want to forget about it,” Phil said, taking the exact _wrong_ message. “I’m so sorry Daisy, the things I said--”

“Weren’t _that_ bad,” Daisy interrupted. She actually felt a little defensive over painkiller Coulson and his sweet --if unfiltered--words. “Seriously, you don’t need to apologize for being too nice.”

“That’s not it,” he argued, looking frustrated. “I wasn’t being nice, I was--” He stopped himself.

_Please don’t stop yourself._

“Go on,” Daisy said. She put her bowl down on the table next to her.

Coulson sighed, almost looking away from her but deciding otherwise. “My feelings...about you, they’re complicated.”

Well it wasn’t exactly a love declaration but she was going to give him more time.

“And when I was on whatever _that_ was,” he recalled, shaking his head. “They got a little less complicated.”

Daisy leaned forward, not even wanting to breathe if it was going to spook him and send him running. _Well, he’s not going anywhere on that leg. Ugh, bad Daisy!_

“So the things you said were how you really feel,” she said carefully.

Coulson nodded, his face red. “Yeah, I think so.” He winced, covering his face with his hands. “Oh god, in front of Mack, Elena, _Mace._ I can’t believe I did that to you.”

“Hey, seriously don’t worry about it,” Daisy said, feeling much more chipper about this conversation than she had earlier. Coulson looked up, and Daisy felt emboldened enough to lean forward a bit, placing a hand on his uninjured knee. “But don’t forget the medical team and Simmons,” she said playfully. Coulson’s brow furrowed. “You know, when you said you...love...me?” She trailed off, watching the mild embarrassment turn to confusion which turned to what she could only describe as ‘mute horror.’

Coulson was positively ashen.

“You...don’t remember that part, got it,” Daisy said, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles in her sweatpants and standing up. It made sense; Coulson was embarrassed about finding Daisy attractive and didn’t want to reduce her to that in front of their teammates. But finding out he told her he loved her when it _clearly_ wasn’t what he meant?

That was probably worse, especially if it had given her hope that _this_ could ever happen. That would require a whole other conversation where he’d have to let her down easy and they would take forever to get past the awkwardness, and Daisy was just too tired for that right now. “Well I’m going to get some sleep, see you tomorrow!” She turned away and hightailed it out of there.

“Daisy, wait,” he called at her back. She felt a little guilty, walking away when she knew he couldn’t follow, but it was for the best.

* * *

Of course, this time the follow up conversation happened a lot sooner than she’d have liked. And under not so fun circumstances.

With no small amount of effort, Daisy opened her eyes. The lights over her head were glaring, and she groaned.

“The hell?”

After letting her eyes gradually adjust, Daisy realized she was in the medical ward, laid up next to another bed, whose occupant was smiling at her.

“Come here often?”

Coulson was holding a book, and she wondered if it was the same one from the day before when she’d found him on the couch. She imagined it must get frustrating not being able to go anywhere, but Coulson _would_ find entertainment in book form.

(That wasn’t to say she wasn’t a reader herself, but Daisy’s reading material tended to be in a digital format. Not a slightly curved paperback that had either been bought second hand or owned for a pretty long time.)

“Hey,” Daisy greeted, trying to assess her injuries. “The last thing I remember is…”

“Some kind of sonic weapon,” he finished, and Daisy looked at him curiously. “I...asked.” Phil looked a little embarrassed. “Maybe demanded. I should probably apologize when Simmons comes back.”

Daisy smiled a little bit, thinking about what Coulson--laid up in bed in basically his pajamas, probably still holding that damn book when she got wheeled in-- looked like ‘demanding’ information.

“I’m sure it was very intimidating,” she joked, and Phil gave her a small, self-deprecating smile.

“Yeah.”

She would probably look just as, if not more ridiculous if their roles had been reversed, and he were brought in with no explanation.

_Probably more ridiculous, since--_

Oh right. She was in love with him. She had almost forgotten about that. Sitting up quickly, Daisy had her feet set on the floor before the dizziness kicked in and she almost fell off the bed. Through the fog, she could hear Coulson’s worried voice saying her name.

Carefully she leaned back until she was in her previous position, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths until everything that wasn’t supposed to move stopped moving.

“So standing, that’s a ‘no’ for now,” Daisy muttered.

“Are you okay?” She could hear Coulson shuffling around, still clearly worried.

_Sure. I’m just trapped in bed in a room with someone who doesn’t love me back and probably wants to talk about it._

“Yup,” she answered, opening her eyes just in time to see him _literally_ start hopping over on one foot. “Woah, hold on, stop!” Sure it was only a couple feet but _still._

Ignoring her, Coulson made it over, using the edge of her bed for balance.

“Daisy, open your eyes.”

 _My eyes are--oh._ She didn’t realize she’d closed them. Daisy opened her eyes, and looked up at his stupid, handsome, worried face. _When was the last time he shaved?_ He had this fascinating silvery stubble on his chin, she couldn’t stop staring at it.

“Should I call Simmons?”

Daisy shook her head, _slowly._

“I’m in love with you.”

The concern on Phil’s face totally dropped, leaving his expression almost totally blank. Did she break him?

“I’m not out of it or anything, I just...thought you should know that,” she continued, carefully scooting backwards against the pillows until she was somewhat upright again. “And I’m not expecting anything, I know it was just-- it made me realize something. Well, a _bunch_ of things.” She said the last part half to herself, thinking of everything that had been occupying her mind lately. “But I think I want to remember saying it. Since I mean it.”

Coulson looked down, shaking his head. “Daisy,” he began, but she held up a hand.

“Really, Coulson. It’s fine, I understand it was totally out of your control and it’s not your fault, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen to me and I’m going to say things to you or anyone else, so I wanted to, I don’t know. Save us all from the confusion.”

“I wanted to remember it too.”

All geared up for the rest of her gracious acceptance of his rejection, Daisy was a bit startled. “Wait what?”

Coulson kept staring at his own hands, gripping the rail, before finally looking up at her. “I was upset because I didn’t remember saying that to you, and that’s not how I wanted it to come out.”

“Oh,” Daisy said, wary. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? After all this confusion she didn’t want to get her hopes up too soon. “Would it have come out? Eventually?”

Coulson shrugged a little helplessly. “I don’t know.”

Daisy nodded, pursing her lips. So it wasn’t that he regretted saying it, he just regretted not remembering it, but he also wasn’t sure if he would have done it in the first place? If her head hadn’t already been there, done that with the spinning, that would have certainly done it.

Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to come up with a game plan. “Okay, okay,” she muttered, before opening her eyes and pointing at Coulson. “Take two.”

Still looking kind of angsty, Coulson’s brow furrowed. “What?”

“Take two, pretend the first time never happened. I mean, for you it didn’t, but just pretend I don’t remember it either,” she explained. Pointing at her own head she wiggled her fingers. “There, gone. Never happened.” Coulson smiled fondly, and Daisy’s heart sped up almost instantly. Clearing her throat, she tried to put that aside. “So, we’re back where we started. I don’t know how you feel, so you can either not say anything like you would have before or--”

Apparently Phil preferred what was behind door number two.

“I love you. In love-- I’m in love with you,” he said, fumbling with his words. Nodding, Daisy grabbed the front of his t-shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. She had been waiting weeks, maybe years for this, she still wasn’t sure yet, but from the hand gently but firmly holding her arm to the way his stubble was lightly scratching her face as he deepened the kiss it was so worth--

“Sorry, can I try that again?”

A little dazed, Daisy opened her eyes and realized they’d stopped. “What?”

“I feel like that didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted,” he said, distractedly rubbing one lock of her hair between his fingers. Or maybe she was the one being distracted.

“Yeah, okay take three,” Daisy said. “God this is such a chore.”

Giving her a sardonic smile, Phil opened his mouth to tell her he loved her--was _in love with_ her again, but Daisy lost patience and grabbed him by the shirt again.

This time, unprepared, he made it about halfway before he lost his balance on his one good leg and plummeted to the floor.

“Coulson?!” Daisy sat up quickly, immediately feeling the sharp pain in her head. Pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead, she groaned. “I’m sorry are you okay?”

“I get another do-over,” Coulson said faintly from the floor, and Daisy could hear the doors open and Simmons rush in.

“ _What_ on earth is going on?”

* * *

“I love you.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Daisy, I love you.”

“Oh my god, dude, I _know_.”

Coulson sighed against her collarbone before dragging his lips back up to her neck. “Just wanted to make sure,” he muttered, and Daisy rolled her eyes. Affectionately, of course. Phil really wanted to make up for messing up that first time, and she couldn’t fault his enthusiasm, but as someone who wasn’t used to a lot of loving declarations? Like, people who really meant it, over the course of her life? Besides, it had been a _while._

“Daisy, I--”

“ _Phil_ ,” she objected, precariously rolling them over until she was straddling him on the couch. “I get it, and I love you too, I love you probably more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my life, ever, so can we please just--”

“Daisy I can hear someone coming up the stairs.”

“Oh, shit.” Staring awkwardly down at Phil, who looked irritatingly smug for someone about to get caught making out in the director’s office.

Behind them, the door opened.

“Director-- oh, no, nope,” Agent Piper said, covering her eyes. “Didn’t see a thing, just... here,” she said, peeking through her fingers enough to find a surface to place a folder on.

“Thanks!” Daisy called as Piper quickly exited. “She’s discreet, right? Unlike some people?”

Phil sighed. “Yeah, let’s hope.”

**Author's Note:**

> God that title is so fucking bad


End file.
